Do you know what is the simplest formula to increase sales? 

Follow-ups.

It is so essential to your sales plans, but largely ignored. Salespeople do not want to come across as pushy by asking their prospects over and over again. While no one likes being sold to, salespeople need to understand that picking up the call and asking “Are you buying from us?” or emailing them with a reminder to buy does not necessarily construe a follow-up and might not even be the best approach. 

Follow-up is an art and when rightly done, it can give you incredible dividends. No matter how well the first contact went, if you do not follow up with the prospects, their interest will wane off. If you sit on the fact that your first meeting was a success and hope that the prospect will call you with a “Hey, please send us the invoice,” then you are mistaken. It doesn’t work that way in the real world.

You don’t want to sound annoying, we get it. You don’t want to irk the prospect in such a way that they reject the offer because of you. It is important that you stay persistent while being respectful of their time.

The most popular forms of follow-up are emails and calls. In this article, we are going to concentrate on how to follow up efficiently via calls and emails.

Hacks for phone follow-ups:

Phone calls can be construed as more annoying than emails. If you play your cards right, you can avoid the ignominy of being referred to as an annoying salesperson. Here are a few tips.

#1 Keep it short and sweet:

When you get on a phone call with a prospect, do not ramble. Keep your conversation to the point instead of spending a lot of time on exchanging pleasantries. It is best to have a written down script that you can keep handy to make the call as effective as possible.

#2 Give clear answers:

Over emails, it is easy to send crisp and clear responses because there is a lot of time for you to respond, but that’s not the case with phone calls. The salesperson who makes sales calls should be highly trained and a domain expert so that the chances of conversions can be increased. 

#3 Use the right words:

Since you are not seeing the other person, every word you say, the tone you use, the pitch and the speed at which you talk will send signals to the prospect about you. You are the representative of your company and there is hardly any room for errors. During follow-ups, your prospect is on guard because you are expecting them to make payment for your product, which is why you need to come across as an ally who is there to help with their business needs.  

Hacks for email follow-ups:

There is no single follow-up template that works like magic for every client. You can use different messaging based on the circumstance and the kind of recipient you have on the other side. It is possible to arrive at a formula on what works for your business and audience when there is ample interaction with the prospects. 

#1 Talk about a new feature:

If your company has released a new feature which you think might help the prospect’s business, then use it as a chance to email the client. The best part is that you could use any small development as a ruse to follow-up with the prospect, maybe your company published a case study or it was featured on a major publication. 

#2 Tell them about a pain-point you solved for a client:

There is no prospect who wouldn’t want to know how you’ve helped another business solve the same problem that they have. If there are any testimonials of your clients or results that you could share which will help the prospect understand how you’ve resolved a problem, it would be a great inclusion in a follow-up email. In the email, tell them how you will be able to help with their issue too.

#3 Activity triggers:

Whenever prospects take some action, it could be watching your promotional video or downloading a resource from your website, you can set up triggers on your marketing automation software. Based on the specific trigger, send follow-up messages to them. Most prospects know that their activities are being tracked on a website, it would be best if you wait a day to send a follow-up email.

There are many more ways you can increase the frequency of your follow-up emails without coming across as too pushy. 

Conclusion:

Be respectful of your prospect’s time and space. Ask them in advance about how they would like to continue the conversation. If they have a specific time range beyond which they don’t like to be contacted, keep that in mind during the follow-ups. Before you complete the first contact, always ensure that you close the conversation with a clear agenda in mind. It makes the process of follow-up easier. Using an email automation tool like Adapt Engage which follows up with the prospect through different channels is great for salespeople to close deals.